Era: Starting from divorce from female college student

October 1, 1984, in the office compound of Lingjing Hutong, Beijing.

Zhao Mancang was having a meeting with several leaders, and they were discussing quite a few things.

The first thing we're discussing is longevity and health maintenance.

Several experts from the Health Bureau have also arrived.

After discussing it with Zhao Mancang, they both agreed that maintenance is not an easy thing.

As for longevity, to be honest, it really varies from person to person.

For example, how many people can truly maintain a happy mood?

Many people often suffer from internal conflicts, and over time, this will inevitably lead to various illnesses.

Most cheerful people tend to maintain good health for extended periods, and they don't tend to pay much attention to minor illnesses or pains.

Soong Mei-ling lived to be 106 years old. Her sons and grandsons all passed away before her, and her familiar family members all left her first. Yet, she still lived to be 100.

"So, esteemed leaders, regarding longevity, that's truly the case."

Zhao Mancang said calmly:

"Our leaders have put in tremendous effort. Although the Health Bureau is there to support us, to live longer, well, it certainly requires both internal motivation and external support."

He gave a brief analysis, and the leaders, being intelligent people, immediately understood.

We've finished talking about longevity, and now we've covered the topic of health maintenance.

To be honest, it's not that Zhao Mancang is unwilling to share, but rather that maintaining such a product is too expensive.

Anyway, he won't sell it. So far, only he and his family have used the products produced by the system, which is why they are able to maintain their health so well.

The second matter concerns domestic economic development.

"Mancang, the economic development of Beijiang City is indeed very rapid now. Do you think there is any way to promote this model in the eastern coastal areas?"

This is the question raised by the leader.

The Beijiang City project was initiated in 1974 and was personally overseen by Zhao Mancang. Reform and opening up began in 1978, and the project was completed in October 1984.

To be honest, it only took eleven years in total.

However, the development of Beijiang City is evident to all.

From a small county town with a population of only tens of thousands to a metropolis with a population of over six million.

There are only a handful of cities in China with a population exceeding five million.

Economically, Beijiang City's GDP has exceeded 100 billion RMB, ranking first among all cities in the country, making it the undisputed number one city in China's economic development.

Therefore, what leaders want to achieve with this economic development model is simply to copy and paste it, and then it will flourish all over the country.

Zhao Mancang heard this and shook his head:

"Impossible. The economic development model of Beijiang City simply cannot be promoted nationwide, and it would be difficult to promote even within the eastern coastal areas."

"However, it's still worthwhile to refer to and imitate it."

"By the way, boss, I heard there's a Songliao Canal project being discussed in Northeast China, is that right?"

Suddenly, Zhao Mancang brought up the Songliao Canal project, seemingly quite interested in it.

In the original timeline, the Songliao Canal was passed through in the 1990s, but it was still not completed before his rebirth.

why?
Because of the high cost and the great difficulty of the project, even though the project was approved, it was shelved due to lack of funds, manpower, and technology.

Later, due to the development of highways and railways, the Songliao Canal seemed to become obsolete. Furthermore, the bridges were not built with sufficient height, so even if the Songliao Canal project were opened, it might not be able to allow ships to navigate.

In short, for various reasons, the project was shelved.

However, in this timeline, since Zhao Mancang has taken notice of this project, he naturally wants to acquire it.

Upon hearing this, the leaders immediately leaned forward with interest and asked with smiles:

"Mancang, you think it's possible to develop the economy of Northeast China, right?"

If Northeast China were to adopt the economic development model of Beijiang City, it might actually work.

But at this moment, one of the leaders who was quite familiar with the Songliao Canal project suddenly frowned and said:

"Mancang, the Songliao Canal project sounds great, but you have to understand that the Songhua River canal experiences an ice age of more than half a year. Even if this canal is actually opened, it will be difficult to achieve its navigation purpose."

"Another issue is the lack of water resources in the Liao River basin. In recent years, due to the Great Northern Wilderness and the fact that Northeast China is a region with heavy industry, water resources have been scarce."

In short, the Liao River is dry, and even if the Songliao Canal project is completed, the lack of water could easily prevent the canal from fulfilling its purpose of inland waterway transportation.

The purpose of opening the Songliao Canal was certainly not simply to connect the two rivers, but to enable them to function as shipping routes.

Among the various modes of transportation, including land, water, rail, and air, water transport is undoubtedly the most economical and lowest-cost, bar none.

Whether it's inland waterway shipping or ocean shipping, the costs are very low.

"If the goal is to build a large number of reservoirs to store water and thus regulate water resources, the project construction cost will increase significantly, and it may very well be counterproductive."

Upon hearing his leader's words, Zhao Mancang smiled and said:

"Distinguished leaders, I believe the Songliao Canal project is excellent. The problems you just mentioned, such as water scarcity and the glacial period, are actually very easy to solve."

"Northeast my country has always been a heavy industrial base. Waterway transportation can greatly reduce costs. Although we are currently investing heavily in the construction of the Songliao Canal, it will actually benefit the present and future generations."

This is similar to the Three Gorges Dam project.

As for issues like lack of technology or money, are those really problems?
Beijiang City can bear all of this on its own, but it needs to receive the toll fees from the Songliao Canal as compensation.

When it comes to this matter, it involves the distribution of huge profits, and of course, it's impossible to let Zhao Mancang take it away so easily.

So this matter is going to be a long and complicated affair.

Zhao Mancang only mentioned the Songliao Canal project briefly, saying that it would be best if Beijiang City could secure it.

If that doesn't work, that's okay too.

The Northeast economy needs development, and once the Songliao Canal project is implemented, it will inevitably require technology, which the city of Beijiang is not lacking.

Therefore, they can complement each other perfectly.

The Songliao Canal project has been temporarily shelved. This project requires some time to discuss and certainly cannot be approved in the short term.

"Mancang, besides the Northeast, do you think the economic development model of Beijiang City can be used as a reference in other parts of my country?"

Before the second matter could be fully discussed, the leader pressed for more information. Zhao Mancang pondered for a moment and said:
"Not for now!"

After a pause, he continued:

"But to be honest, our eastern coastal areas don't actually need to refer to the economic model of Beijiang City. They can completely follow their own ideas, leveraging their local geographical advantages and their own strengths."

"Take Suzhou in the Yangtze River Delta as an example. Its economic development can definitely rely on the garment and textile industries first."

He gave a brief explanation and then quickly moved on from the matter.

After discussing the second matter, the next thing to talk about is the Shaya Laboratory.

Located in the Taklamakan Desert region, Shaya Laboratory has evolved from a small oasis into a small city.

The population has already exceeded one million, and most of them are high-tech talents.

With such concentration, shouldn't we consider dispersing it?

With the oasis planting technology of Shaya Laboratory itself, it is entirely possible to open more small oases in other parts of the Taklamakan Desert region.

Before the leader could finish speaking, Zhao Mancang had already roughly guessed their purpose.

It's really just about controlling soil erosion and sandstorms.

The Taklamakan Desert is vast, and it's such a huge waste that we don't use it at all.

Now that Shaya Laboratory has become a city of one million people, and given that we are now in the midst of reform and opening up, wouldn't it be a very good thing to let this desert flourish and develop it?

In this way, Xinjiang's economy might be able to rise rapidly, just like the eastern coastal areas.

"Boss, you can decide this. I support it."

Zhao Mancang said calmly.

The leaders were probably envious of the desert greening projects in Middle Eastern countries like Saudi Arabia, which is why they mentioned this to Zhao Mancang at this time.

Although they were being somewhat cautious, they were also afraid that Zhao Mancang would disagree.

On the other hand, if the Taklamakan Desert were to be developed, the cost would be astronomical, and it would take an extremely long time.

"Mancang, we know you might be reluctant, but I still want to ask you, is your Beijiang City willing to take over this project?"

Upon hearing the leader's question, Zhao Mancang shook his head and said:

"No, Beijiang City is developing very rapidly now, and there are too many things to do. I can't spare the time for anything else."

"Moreover, once the Songliao Canal project is launched, and Beijiang City also wants to get involved, things will become even busier."

"I'm very happy with my current situation, so I don't want to take on too much responsibility. I want to live a few more years."

A steady, long-term approach is what truly matters; everything else is secondary.

However, once the Taklamakan Desert is developed, the economic potential it will unleash will be absolutely unparalleled.

However, Zhao Mancang's energy was mostly tied up in Beijiang City and Yunlan City, so he certainly didn't have much energy left to develop the Taklamakan Desert.

Having someone else take charge of this project will only take some time, which is not a big problem.

On the other hand, due to desert greening projects in Middle Eastern countries such as the Saudi, Persian, and Date Palm empires, the water levels of freshwater lakes such as Lake Baikal are declining.

Zhao Mancang definitely can't continue to blatantly exploit people, otherwise, things will get out of hand.

He can start profiting from the rising water levels of freshwater lakes like Lake Baikal in a few years; that's the way to achieve sustainable development.

After finishing his three matters, and with nothing else to discuss, Zhao Mancang left Lingjing Alley.

After Zhao Mancang left, the leaders couldn't hide their disappointment, and some sighed:

"Comrade Mancang is a good man, but he's biased towards outsiders, sigh."

Yunlan City is not part of our domestic territory. Even though Yunlan City now has a million square kilometers of land, if the five-star red flag were to be raised there, something terrible would happen.

Therefore, this can only be the territory of another country.

Of course, Yunlan City is full of Chinese people, and even if Yunlan City becomes independent in the future, it will still be a country with Chinese people as the main body.

Therefore, Zhao Mancang was unwilling to take on the greening project in the Taklamakan Desert, which is a typical case of turning against his own side.

"That's normal. He's already used to being a kingpin abroad. What can we do about it?"

One of the leaders rolled his eyes and said:
"If it were you, you'd definitely prefer to be a big fish in a small pond rather than a small fish in a big pond."

"Frankly speaking, no one in the world can see through the development of Yunlan City right now."

At this point in the conversation, the leaders fell silent.

Over the past year or two, Sam has been sowing discord and even instigating trouble in Ethiopia.

The result was disastrous; Ethiopia lost 400,000 square kilometers of land, nearly half of its territory.

Although these lands are relatively rich in mineral resources, they are also barren lands with harsh environments such as the Gobi Desert.

However, Yunlan City is adept at managing deserts and Gobi, possessing highly advanced technical means to conquer such lands.

This year, Yunlan City has taken over 200,000 square kilometers of land in Ethiopia.

Although no 'miracle' occurred this time, hundreds of thousands of farmers appeared on that land to start planting trees and creating forests. The scale of the project was unprecedented in the world.

Yet this very land has attracted the attention of the entire world.

Everyone is eager to know how they did it.

Besides this, Yunlan City's high-tech and military strength is also something that terrifies the whole world.

Sam has tried to cause trouble in Yunlan City several times, and recently he even sent Caribbean pirates and bribed the locals of Yunlan City to cause trouble.

Even though Yunlan City hasn't completely resolved this issue yet, it's believed that it won't be long before it's resolved.

From the major events Yunlan City has recently undertaken, the leaders know that this place is no ordinary place.

International events such as model competitions, racing, marathons, and track and field meets, as well as various football stadiums and basketball courts that are nearing completion in Yunlan City.

All of this demonstrates Yunlan City's ambition.

The future of Yunlan City is limitless.

Therefore, it's quite normal that Zhao Mancang would rather stay in Yunlan City than take over the Taklamakan Desert greening project.

It’s only human nature!
"I wonder if Comrade Mancang is keeping a mistress in Yunlan City? If it were before, then..." (End of Chapter)